Display sign standard



Aprifi 25, 1967 N. LOUFT DISPLAY SIGN STANDARD Filed Feb. 1, 1965INVENTOR NATHAN LOUFT United States Patent 3,315,393 DISPLAY SIGNSTANDARD Nathan Louft, Washington, D.C.; Rosemary Louft, executrix ofthe estate of Nathan Louft, deceased, assignor to Rosemary P. Louft andDoris J. Louft, both of Silver Spring, Md.

Filed Feb. 1, 1965, Ser. No. 429,483 4 Claims. (Cl. 40-145) Thisinvention generally appertains to improvements in the construction ofdisplay signs and more particularly relates to novel improvements inoutdoor sign-holding or supporting assemblies which are employed tosupport advertising or other information containing display signplacards.

The sign-holding assembly of the present invention is intended tosupport in the most optimums many possible outdoor display sign placardscontaining any type of information desired to be placed before thepublic, for example, advertising sign placards of the type used in thereal estate profession to indicate the offering for sale or rental ofreal property.

Generally stated, the display sign construction of the present inventionis primarily intended for outdoor usage and is of the general typeembodying a standard adapted to be supported in an upright position,usually by having means on its lower end for establishing groundsupport, and to which a panel member is removably attached in a verticalposition, the panel member having advertising or other informationimprinted or otherwise suitably formed on one face thereof.

Several serious drawbacks have become apparent in conventional displaysign constructions of this type. First,

- the conventional sign constructions usually consist of means forsupporting only a single sign placard which has an outer exposed face onwhich the advertising material or other information is visible only whenone is facing toward the outer face of the sign placard. Thus, relatingthis to outdoor signs used by the real estate profession, theadvertising value of the sign is greatly diminished because the rapidlypassing public cannot quickly see the information on the face of thesign placard.

To obviate this drawback, one important object of the present inventionis to provide common means for mounting sign placards in back-to-backpositions on a single standard, with each sign placard having the sameadvertising material or other information on its exposed outer face.This permits the mounting of the sign assembly, again, by way ofexample, with regard to outdoor real estate advertising usage, in such away that the sign placards are disposed normal to the street in front ofthe property and the information on the sign placards can be read byanyone traveling in either direction in front of the property.

Another important object of the present invention, in connection withthe foregoing, is to form the standard in such a way so that it can bedriven into the ground and will not be subject to torsion or rotationunder wind conditions and also to attach the dual sign placards to thestandard in such a way to avoid the foregoing, whereby it is ensuredthat the outer faces of the sign placards will maintain their positionsin the desired facing directions.

Another drawback of conventional sign constructions of this type, isthat they are unduly complicated for assembly and installation byinexperienced personnel and are not durable for repeated outdoor use. Afurther object of the present invention is to overcome this drawback byproviding a very simple standard which can be easily and quickly driveninto the ground to be positioned in an upright position and by providing:a very simple but eflicient fastening means for securing the signplacards in back-to-back positions on the standard, the fastening meanscommonly attaching the sign placards to the stand ard and being easilymanipulated to elfect a sturdy con nection between the standard and thesign placards.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide asign-holding assembly which can be quickly fabricated from inexpensivematerial and which consists of relatively few and simple parts resultingin low production costs for the manufacture and in a low purchase pricefor the user. This last point is of importance because such outdoorsigns are subject to vandalism and are quite apt to be stolen,necessitating repair or replacement.

The foregoing and ancillary objects and other advantages are attained,the desired results realized and the drawback of conventional displaysign construction overcome by the present invention, the preferredembodiment of which is set forth in the following description, succintlypointed out in the appended claims and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the sign construction in assembledrelation;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the sign-hold ing assembly,without the sign placards, and with the fastening means shown inunattached relation, and

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the assembled sign construction with thesign placards shown in broken lines.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, the display signconstruction 10 includes a standard 12, which is of right angled formand may be made from metal, such as aluminum, steel or the like. Thestandard has integral, right angularly related flanges 14 and 16 thatterminate at their lower ends in a V-shaped formation 18 which enablesthe standard to be easily forced into the ground and thereby supportedin an upright position. Due to the angular cross-sectional formation ofthe standard, it will resist torsion or turning in the ground, avoidingthe drawbacks to which a standard of round or flat stock would besubject.

The outer face 20 of the flange 14 is flat so that a thin flat signplacard 22 can be placed flat thereagainst. In connection with themounting of the sign placard 22, a hole (not shown) is formedtherethrongh and a hole 24 is drilled through the flange 14 to bealigned with the hole in the sign placard. Preferably, a pair of holesare formed in the-flange 14 at longitudinally spaced points and,similarly, a pair of spaced apart holes are formed in the sign placard.This is done to ensure that the sign placard will not twist or turn onthe standard, with the holes in the sign placard land the holes in theflange 14 being aligned to receive the fastening means.

Another or companion sign placard 26 may be provided, the sign placardsbeing formed from sheet material, such as wood, heavy cardboard or sheetmetal such as aluminum, tin or the like,- and having advertisingmaterial 28 or other information imprinted or otherwise placed on theirouter exposed faces 30 to be visible when the sign placards are mountedon the standard in back to-back relation, as shown in FIG. 1. The signplacards are mounted on the standard by means of a common fasteningmeans 32 comprising an elongated bolt 34 having exteriorly threaded endportions 36 and 38. The length of the bolt is relative to the width ofthe flanges, for example, the width of the flange 16 of FIGS. 2 and 3 sothat the threaded end portions extend beyond the outer face 20 of theflange 14 and beyond the free edge 40 of the flange 16.

An important feature of the fastening means to achieve the back-to-backplacement of the sign placards on the standard is the provision of aspacer member to cooperate with the right angled standard in themounting of the :sign placard 26. While the spacer can be in theforrn ofa sleeve or the like having a length at least equal to the depth of theflange 16, the preferred spacer member 42, best shown in FIGS. 2and 3 isa one-piece right angled member having right angularly related, integralflanges 44 and 46. The flange 44 is formed with a flat outer face 48,against which the sign placard 26 is adapted to abut, and is providedwith a centrally disposed internally threaded opening 50 to be threadedon the bolt which passes through a hole (not shown) in the sign placard26. The inner side of the free edge 45 bears on the-edge 40 of theflange 16, and flange 44 is disposed in a position parallel to andconfronting in spaced relation the flange 14 of the standard by thepositioning of the flange 46 normal to the flange 14, and with the freeedge 51 hearing against the inner face of the flange 14 of the standard.

The flange 46 of the spacer member is of a width at least equal to thewidth of the inner face of the standard flange 16, that is, from thepoint of the connection of the inner face of the standard flange 16 withthe inner face of the standard flange 14. Preferably, it is of a widthto complement the width of the inner face of the standard flange 16 soas to dispose the flat outer face 48 of the flange 44 parallel with theouter face 20 of the flange 14 of the standard. Thefastening means 32further includes nuts 52, preferably wing nuts, which are adapted to bethreaded onto the end portions of the bolt 34 to secure the signplacards in place.

As previously indicated, it is desired, in order to properly center thesign placards 22 and 26 on the standard and to prevent movement thereofrelative to the standard, to provide the flange 14 with a pair of spacedholes 24 and to provide a pair of correspondingly spaced holes in eachsign placard and to provide, for cooperation therewith, a pair offastening means 32.

It is believed that the manner of assembling the sign construction andmounting the sign placards in back-toback relation on the standard 12 isclearly apparent from FIG. 2. First, the spacer member is threaded onthe end 38 of the bolt and the other bolt end 36 is passed through thehole 24 in the flange 14. Then the sign placard 22 is placed on theextending end portion 36 of the bolt and the wing nut 52 is manuallythreaded onto the end portion of the bolt until the wing nut firmlyclamps the sign against the flange 14. The spacer member properlylocates the end portion 36 of the bolt beyond the standard flange 14 andthe threaded engagement between the spacer member and the bolt properlylocates the spacer member in position, as shown in FIG. 3. Then the signplacard 26 is placed on the extending end portions 38 of the bolts andthe other wing nut 52 is threaded on the end portion 38 until it clampsthe sign placard 26 against the flange 44.

' adapted to be in face to While a specific embodiment of the displaysign construction has been disclosed herein and illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, it will be understood that various modificationsmay be made as come within the spirit and the scope of the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:

1. A display sign construction for supporting a pair of flat signplacards comprising a right angled standard having right angularlyrelated integral flanges, one of said flanges having a flat outer faceformed with a hole therethrough and against which one said sign placardsis face relationship, a spacer member of a width of the inner face ofthe other of said flanges and having an opening aligned with the hole inthe one flange, a bolt passed through the aligned hole and opening, saidspacer member having a flat outer face against which the second of saidflat sign placard is adapted to lie in face to face relationship, saidbolt having threaded end portions projecting beyond the outer face ofthe one flange and the outer face of the spacer member, and nut meansdetachably attached to said end portions and adapted to lock the signplacards against the said faces, said spacer member being a one pieceright angled member and having right angularly related integral flanges,one of said spacer member flanges having a free edge abutting the innerface of said one standard flange and the other of said spacer memberflanges having the flat-outer face and opening and being disposed inspaced parallel relation with said one flange of the standard.

2. The combination of claim 1, wherein the opening in said spacer memberis interiorly threaded for threaded cooperation with one of saidthreaded end portions of said bolt.

3. The combination of claim 1, wherein said standard has a pointed lowerend adapted to be driven into the ground.

4. The combination of claim 1, wherein the one of said flanges of thestandard has a pair of holes disposed in spaced relation along itslength and a pair of spacer members are provided to be aligned with theholes.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,763,431 6/1930Johnson 40 2,022,160 11/1935 Sarensen et al 40 -145 X 2,559,302 7/1951Louft 40--125 2,942,366 6/1960 Pfaff 40-125 FOREIGN PATENTS 806,242 12/1958 Austin.

EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner. HERBERT F. ROSS, AssistantExaminer,

1. A DISPLAY SIGN CONSTRUCTION FOR SUPPORTING A PAIR OF FLAT SIGNPLACARDS COMPRISING A RIGHT ANGLED STANDARD HAVING RIGHT ANGULARLYRELATED INTEGRAL FLANGES, ONE OF SAID FLANGES HAVING A FLAT OUTER FACEFORMED WITH A HOLE THERETHROUGH AND AGAINST WHICH ONE SAID SIGN PLACARDSIS ADAPTED TO BE IN FACE TO FACE RELATIONSHIP, A SPACER MEMBER OF AWIDTH OF THE INNER FACE OF THE OTHER OF SAID FLANGES AND HAVING ANOPENING ALIGNED WITH THE HOLE IN THE ONE FLANGE, A BOLT PASSED THROUGHTHE ALIGNED HOLE AND OPENING, SAID SPACER MEMBER HAVING A FLAT OUTERFACE AGAINST WHICH THE SECOND OF SAID FLAT SIGN PLACARD IS ADAPTED TOLIE IN FACE TO FACE RELATIONSHIP, SAID BOLT HAVING THREADED END PORTIONSPROJECTING BEYOND THE OUTER FACE OF THE ONE FLANGE AND THE OUTER FACE OFTHE SPACER MEMBER, AND NUT MEANS DETACHABLY ATTACHED TO SAID ENDPORTIONS AND ADAPTED TO LOCK THE SIGN PLACARDS AGAINST THE SAID FACES,SAID SPACER MEMBER BEING A ONE PIECE RIGHT ANGLED MEMBER AND HAVINGRIGHT ANGULARLY RELATED INTEGRAL FLANGES, ONE OF SAID SPACER MEMBERFLANGES HAVING A FREE EDGE ABUTTING THE INNER FACE OF SAID ONE STANDARDFLANGE AND THE OTHER OF SAID SPACER MEMBER FLANGES HAVING THE FLAT OUTERFACE AND OPENING AND BEING DISPOSED IN SPACED PARALLEL RELATION WITHSAID ONE FLANGE OF THE STANDARD.